KWENU: Our Culture, Our Future

Finding hope in the midst of bedlam: Promises of Nigeria still evident” (2)

Thursday, January 19, 2006

This is the concluding part of my 2006 New Year Message, “Finding hope in the midst of bedlam: Promises of Nigeria still evident”, that I delivered as the National Chairman, PNF USA. The speech touched on some burning issues facing toady’s Nigeria. The Excerpts:

Electoral Process

I encourage INEC to work diligently to ensure that the 2007 elections would be devoid of fraud. Nigeria is yawning for free and fair elections and that should be the mantra for Prof. Maurice Iwu and INEC. However, it should be everyone’s duty to help INEC to conduct the 2007 elections successfully.

In the process of conducting free and fair elections, it is imperative for individuals stand for elections instead of political parties. To facilitate the development of democracy, the electorate should be given the opportunity to vote for individuals of their choice and not political parties of their choice. Allowing political parties to stand for elections impedes the progress of democracy.

Diaspora Voting Rights Bill

Without a doubt, Diaspora Voting Rights Bill is a bill long past due and on the minds of most Nigerians in the Diaspora. Nigerians in the Diaspora would want to be allowed to register and vote in elections in Nigeria, especially in the gubernatorial and presidential elections.

Interestingly, many countries, including Switzerland, Ghana, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Columbia, Mexico, United States, Great Britain, and others, have voting right laws that allow their citizens living abroad to register and vote in their native countries’ elections. For the most part, these countries allow their citizens to cast their votes in their respective embassies and consulates. In some cases, some of these countries are utilizing E-Voting to facilitate the participation of their citizens in their national elections.

Some countries have found it necessary to expand the participation of their citizens living abroad in their national elections. In addition to granting their citizens living overseas the right to vote in their national elections, France, Italy, and Portugal, have widen the gate of their democracy for their citizens living abroad.

France has designated 12 Senate seats in the French National Assembly for its citizens residing abroad. While citizens of Italy living abroad are allowed to register and vote in the national elections, those Italians living overseas are also granted eight spots in the Italian National Parliament. Also, Portugal found it prudent to allow a total of four parliamentarians—two parliamentarians representing its citizens living in Europe and the other two representing Portuguese living in other parts of the globe. It has been reported that Ireland has a pending constitutional amendment that would eventually allow three members of its Senate to be elected by Irish emigrants.

Education

Nigeria should invest in its future by methodically investing in all areas of education. Also the educational curriculum should include civics and courses in the workings of democracy. In addition, people should not only be taught about their civic responsibility, but also the rights of citizens in a democratic society. Churches should help reach citizens in ways they have never done before. It is their moral responsibility to ensure that members of their congregation fully understand and exercise their rights in Nigeria—democracy demands it. It is imperative that the masses rid the country and its government of people with flaccid ideology and principles.

Census

Census, a periodic count of the population of a nation, is a process by which a country obtains demographic data of its citizens. In a civilized nation, census involves collecting data on ethnicity, religion, gender, occupation, and other demographic information. It behooves us to ask why Nigeria would not include ethnic and religion as part of the demographic information to be collected during census. I encourage all, especially the Igbo to stand firm to ensure that ethnicity and religion are included in the upcoming census. The census would be a worthless activity if vital information is not collected. This seems to support the statement PNF USA recently released. It said, “The census exercise would be a futile effort if some vital variables were not included in the instrument. As a result, we demand that the census questionnaire include the following indices: ethnicity, religious affiliation, state of origin, gender, age, citizenship, and profession. We call on well-meaning Nigerians from all ethnic and religious groups to boycott the charade that may be called census in Nigeria if pertinent data were not included in the questionnaire. Again, anything worth doing is worth doing well. Dependable head count is critical for national planning.”

Also, Prof. Dennis Balogu echoed the above when he said, “Conducting censuses should not be limited to counting of human heads.  It should be used in collecting vital human data such as literacy levels, employment, and number of professionals.  It should give us a sense of the composition of Nigeria.  It should include for example, actual religious affiliations, ethnic diversity and spatial distribution of ethnicity in the Nigerian Nation.  This will then tie to understanding and improvement of geo-ethnic-based businesses and productivity.”

Selective Prosecution

I beckon you to abhor, reject, and condemn unequivocally any alleged selective use of EFCC to silence opposition. It’s imperative that EFCC conducts itself above reproach and performs its responsibilities objectively and without prejudice. Nigeria needs EFCC to fight corruption. As a result, we have to have confidence and trust in the Commission.

MASSOB

I understand MASSOB is always a thorny issue to the government. However, it is undemocratic to detain people without bringing charges against them. I am calling on the government and its security apparatus—Director-General, State Security Service (SSS), Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), and Inspector-General of Police (IGP)—to release on bail all members of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) that are in its custody. If they have committed any crime, please bring charges against them and try them in the court of law. Detaining individuals indefinitely without charges is a violation of their human rights. The government should be conscious of respecting the human rights of its detainees. Those detainees should be released immediately.

Igbo problems in Nigeria

I encourage all Igbo organizations to work together to internationalize the Igbo problems in Nigeria. It is extremely important to work collaboratively with the press to actualize our goal. PNF USA will continue to educate the world about the plight of the Igbo in Nigeria. We’ll be holding a political Conference on May 12, 13, & 14, 2006 in Dallas, Texas to constructively discuss some of the major problems facing the Igbo in Nigeria today. Political and economic empowerment of the Igbo will be pivotal agenda item for discussion during the conclave. I am encouraging the presidential aspirants to attend the conference. It will be a defining moment for some the candidates. Also, I am inviting the stakeholders to join in the discussion of the pertinent issues facing the Igbo.

Ladies and gentlemen, time and space constraints would not allow me to touch on other important issues. Be that as it may, it is critically important that we will not lose sight of finding ways to alleviate poverty, improve healthcare system and infrastructure, stamp out corruption, improve security, and most importantly, maintain a true democratic nation. It’s our duty and do not shy away from the responsibility.

Compatriots, in all that we do, we must always replace despair with hope for us to accomplish that which we set our minds on. We cannot afford to flounder at this time; we must continue to labor for I truly know that our labor would not be in vain.